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Derek Karlavaegen
Derek Karlavaegen of Daventry is something of a jack of all trades. Primarily he is a scribe and historian, as well as an accomplished writer. He is renowned for his efforts chronicling the adventures of the Royal House of Daventry, who consider him a close friend. He also spent much of his life as a journalist for The Times of Daventry and Daventry People. Though he is less well known for it, he is also an accomplished adventurer and traveler in his own right. He also has some experience in spellcasting, having tried his hand as a magician and a part-time sorcerer. He is also the only known person to have communicated with the Other World through the "Eye Between Worlds". He is, like most people born in Daventy, fair-skinned with dark hair. He typically dressed in foppish clothing, and walks with the help of a cane. He enjoys wine, particularly taking in a glass of red wine while writing. Derek has frequently been accused of overthinking, as evidenced by wild philosophies and theories which have been known to appear in his body of work. Still, Derek's curious nature has made him something of an expert on the world of Daventry and has even gained him considerable knowledge about the Other World as well. Above all else, Derek prizes knowledge and truth. A firm believer in cosmic balance, Derek has stated repeatedly that he believes the great evil of Mordack, Manannan and Hagatha is the balancing power to the great good of the Royal Family of Daventry. History Derek Karlavaegen was born in the fertile land of Daventry, but set about to explore the world in his youth. While on his travels, Derek discovered a deep need to write about all that he saw and encountered. He began to sell his writings to earn a living and fund further exploration. He discovered much about the world, and about people, during this time in his life -- chiefly that most people prefer living a life of adventure without having to do anything more than open a book. Shipwrecked in the Green Isles After Derek had traveled in Tamir, he took passage on a ship called the Round About sailing east from from Port Bruce in Llewdor. His destination was the Sovereignty of Serenia, however they were caught in a terrible lightning storm in the second week of the voyage. The ship lost its way and went off course. They remained lost for a month, with provisions becoming scarce, before land was ever sighted. When it was, initially, the entire crew was filled with joy. This feeling was short-lived, for the Round About was entering the Dangerous Currents and Rocky Shoals that surround the Land of the Green Isles. The ship sank, and everyone aboard save Derek was killed in the wreck. Derek was fortunate enough to wake up some time later on the shore of the Isle of the Crown, though he had not escaped unscathed from the catastrophic wreck. He was warmly welcomed by sympathetic villagers, who treated his wounds and dressed him. When he was well enough, he was given the freedom to explore the land he had found himself -- a land most thought did not exist at all. Initially, Derek remained in the Village of the Crown. He found he was able to sell the few interesting items that had survived the shipwreck with him, in order to gain the necessities for himself. The people of the village were also very willing to trade what they could in return for labor and Derek did establish something of a life for himself. He was even granted an audience with King Caliphim and Queen Allaria despite being a foreigner with no official business in the land. The two royals greatly impressed Derek with their kindness and fairness. During his stay, he had many audiences with the king and queen -- they told him much about their kingdom, and he told them much of Daventry and the lands that he had explored. Derek befriended the jolly ferryman and his son Hassan as well. With their help, he was able to travel to the other islands. First, they toured the Isle of Wonder and then to the Isle of the Sacred Mountain. Two of the Winged Ones met him at the base of the Cliffs of Logic and flew him to the Winged Ones City. With no means of flight of his own, Derek was entirely dependent on these greeters to explore. He found that, although the Winged Ones were very polite, their disdain for him was quite apparent. It was during this exploration of the Isle of the Sacred Mountain that Derek became fascinated with the Ancient Ones and he made an effort to study as much about them as he could while he was there. When he later returned to the Isle of the Crown, he read all that scholars had written on the subject of the Ancient Ones as well. He also attempted to explore the Isle of the Beast, but was unable to get very far thanks to the numerous obstacles of the island. Still, he was able to learn some of its history from the residents of the Green Isles. Further conversations with locals revealed to him many of the legends of myths of the region. Derek copied down nearly everything he learned and saw into what would become the Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles. The book he was writing was of some concern to Caliphim and Allaria, and after much thought they spoke to Derek. After expressing their concerns, he agreed not to sell the work but to keep only one copy for himself and thus protect the Land of the Green Isles from the turmoil of the outside world. Despite the life he had built for himself and his general contentedness with the land he found himself in, Derek's wanderlust was beginning to stir inside him again and so -- assured that his land would remain at peace -- Caliphim summoned his court sorcerer to magically transport Derek back to the Sovereignty of Serenia. Some time after that, Derek would return to his homeland of Daventry. Friendship with the Royal Family of Daventry Derek's life for the next twenty years is not as remarkably well documented as much of his life before his adventure in the Green Isles. It is known that about two decades later, Derek had become a fast friend of King Graham and Queen Valanice, as well as their children Rosella and Alexander. He had met Alexander almost as soon as the prince returned to Daventry from his captivity in Llewdor, and after Rosella's return from Tamir. It was Derek who first interviewed Alexander after his return. Not long afterwards, Derek traveled to Llewdor to get a better understanding of what Alexander must have gone through. He found nothing at Manannan's House, not even the remains of animals. He chose to occupy the home while he was exploring Llewdor -- and it was in Manannan's Library that he discovered the Eye Between the Worlds. Using the strange device, Derek began to contact the Other World. He used the device to send many of his own writings, as well as some other writings such as excerpts from The Sorcery of Old but also to explain the adventures of the Royal Family of Daventry. As his residence became somewhat more permanent, he considered himself fortunate that Mordack did not attempt to exact some type of vengeance upon him. While in Llewdor, Derek met with the Three Bears and gave them gold, which Alexander had sent, to repay them for the items he had taken from their home. About a year later, Graham invited Derek to visit the refurbished Castle Daventry. While there, they related their tale of their conflict with Mordack. They asked him to write the story down so that it could be shared with any who might read it. He did so, and also managed to extract information about what Crispinophur had been doing during the course of the adventure. When he returned to Llewdor, he updated his maps and immediately sent the new information across to Eye Between Worlds. Return to the Green Isles Derek dutifully kept the Land of the Green Isles a secret, even after Graham had met Cassima, until Alexander came to him in Llewdor to seek help in going after Cassima. Finally relenting, Derek gave Alexander his only copy of the Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles. He was invited to stay at the Castle Daventry, and waited for return of Alexander from his journey. Months passed without any word from Alexander until at last Shamir Shamazle appeared to Derek. Derek gathered the Royal Family of Daventry and they all were transported to the island kingdom to be part of the celebrations commencing with the defeat of Abdul Alhazred. Shortly before the wedding, Alexander asked Derek to read the rendition of his adventure that the prince had penned. Derek read it over and confessed it needed work -- so he volunteered to write it himself and promised that it would be ready by the time Alexander and Cassima were wed. On the morning of the wedding, Derek gave the pages to the Royal Archivist of the Crown to make copies. Fraught with guilt, Derek publicly apologized for his deception about the existence of the Land of the Green Isles -- and publicly apologized for breaking the trust of Caliphim by telling Alexander. He wrote "A Confession and Apologia" which was published in both the Times of Daventry and Daventry People. Derek later came across a story being told of adventures held by Rosella and Valanice in the lands of Etheria. He was highly skeptical for many reasons, but surmised that if the tales were true it was likely a recreation of the world he knew caused by someone's powerful imagination and by the various worlds of the multiverse drawing close together. However, Derek Karlavaegen is known to have sent a few documents that cover later times, particularly covering events several years following the Royal Family's respective journies to Serenia, Green Isles, and Etheria. This included covering the life and later success of Sonny Cincinatus, Tailor_Fey, and others in the Sovereignty of Serenia. Fey for example had been celebrating yearly clearance sells since King Graham visited his shop. As well as quite a bit of unpublished material on later adventures that have yet to be exposed. Body of Work Derek is a prolific writer. He has contributed innumerable articles to various pulbications including the Times of Daventry, Daventry People, and Daventry Today. He is the author of The World of Daventry, The Eye Between the Worlds, Prince Alexander's Own Story! Exclusive Interview, and several other writings documenting the adventures of the Royal Family of Daventry included in Chronicles of Daventry. He also wrote the minimally published Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles and a presumably unpublished letter on Rosella and Valanice's adventures in Etheria called "From Beyond the Eye Between the Worlds". He also compiled assorted material that Peter Spear used to put together An Encyclopedia of Daventry, which may only have been sent over the Eye Between the Worlds. Derek has also compiled a vast library of documents not written by him, which he also sent over the Eye Between the Worlds. Non-Canon Infamous Adventures Mordack burned Manannan's Estate to the ground after rescuing his feline brother. Whether Derek had already taken up residence inside and somehow escaped (or did not escape!) is unknown. The Silver Lining Derek Karlavaegen is a young man, and is not a dear friend of the Royal Family of Daventry, though he is a prolific writer. Derek is highly mistrustful of authority figures of all kinds and has an especially strong distaste for Alexander. He bears no qualms about twisting the truth to meet his own ends, and has some experience as a thief and a con artist. He has a love of money and often sells artifacts he's uncovered on his travels to ensure he always has gold to spare. Derek was the one who wrote about the adventures of Rosella's adventures in Tamir (rather than Valanice). Derek traveled to Llewdor for the first time, and moved into Manannan's house shortly after the events of KQ8, and discovered the Eye Between the Worlds in the few months before the trial of Abdul Alhazred (about a year before TSL). Derek returned and second visit to the Land of the Green Isles was to cover the trial of Abdul Alhazred for the Four Winds, though few in the Green Isles trust him. This mistrust may have been with merit, since Derek broke into the Castle of the Crown for the chance to read Black Cloak Correspondence between Shadrack and Abdul Alhazred. It is unknown how he learned to operate the Eye Between the Worlds as it is covered in symbols he could not understand. Revenge of the Black Cloak Society Real World Derek Karlavaegen is a character invented to be the writer of the King's Quest Companion by Peter Spear. He was later implemented as the writer for the Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles, written by Jane Jensen and used as the manual for King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow. In official lore Derek Karlavaegen is an older man, at least Graham's age, but probably older. He was old when Hassan was a young child, and Hassan is old in KQ6 (though probably looks older than he really is), but older than Alexander, and least twice the age of Cassima she was 15-16 at the time of KQ6 (Hassan was an adult when Alhazred came to the islands, when Cassima was a newborn). Which may indicate that Derek is at least twice the age of Hassan. He moved into Manannan's house and discovered and began using the Eye Between the Worlds shortly after KQ4. He continued to live in Manannan's house up to at least the events of KQ7. He travelled to the house not long after Alexander and Rosella's return from their adventures. He is very close to the Royal Family of Daventry, and he spends quite a bit of time at Castle Daventry when he's not in Llewdor. It should be noted that timing wise Derek's information about Tailor Fey mentions the tailor having had several clearance sells each year since Graham visited his shop, in which he showed off his golden needle, and advertised the fact Graham had been in his shop. To put this into perspective chronologically, the events of KQ6 and KQ7 occur in the same year, and only about a year after events of KQ5. So for there to have been several clearance sells, those documents had to have been sent after the events of KQ7. Peter Spear mentions in the Companion that there were documents sent concerning quite a bit of history, and major adventures, but he chose not to publish them until they were at least backed up by Roberta's versions of those events (Thus the implication is that Peter Spear knew of at least the events of KQ6 and KQ7 before those games were even made, and chose not to publish those documents).KQC2E, pg 436; "There are, of course, many close and startling similarities between what is related in the King's Quest computer games and what has been passed down in our own universe as folk tales, myth, fiction, and fairy stories. What follows has been compiled from many different sources, and is not by any means the last word on the subject. I leave that task to the scientists and scholars who, I hope, will explore the truth of the universe of Daventry and its inhabitants further. Included here also is more information culled from the many communications sent to me by Derek Karlavaegen. From them I have taken mostly bits of biography to provide a little background on many of the people, both good and evil, who have crossed paths with King Graham and his family. All together, what follows in this chapter provides many unique insights into the universe of Daventry and its Denizens. I have not, however, reprinted everything that has been sent from Daventry by Derek. Some of what he relates bears no direct relationship to the Daventry we know of in the King's Quest games. Some does though, and I am as curious as anyone to see if any of thsoe tales turn up in other adventures. If it does, then it would be final proof to me that what I have been receiving on my computer screen really is true--it would be my final proof that Derek and Daventry are real. I'd sure like to see that happen. In IA universe, Manannan's House was destroyed several months after Alexander returned, but before Rosella went on her adventure. Thus there was no house for Derek to move into, or if he moved into before Rosella went on his adventure, he would have had to have escaped, or died in the fire (or had no house to discover). In TSL universe, Derek Karlavaegen is portrayed as a much younger man. He has had limited interaction with the Royal Family in the past. He has only recently moved into Manannan's house, not more than half a year before the events of The Silver Lining. He moved into the house after the events of KQ8, and discovered the Eye Between the Worlds only recently. External Links *King's Quest Omnipedia References Category:King's Quest Characters Category:Inhabitants of Llewdor Category:Inhabitants of Daventry Category:Kingdom of Daventry Members Category:KQC Characters Category:KQ6 Characters Category:Inhabitants of the Isle of the Crown Category:KQ Human Characters Category:KQ Sorcerer Characters Category:KQ Explorer Characters Category:KQ Writer Characters Category:Land of the Green Isles Members Category:KQ Reoccuring Characters